Pigeon Talk

[Pyxis]

Sundae (that's what I've decided to call the feral) was alllll the way up in the nesting box tonight! She had to have flown up there.

I've been catching her on the beam on the door, which is about two feet off the ground, so I knew she was healing. Tonight she got all the way up to the nest box, which is about five feet off the ground.

 

[Pigeon28]

Did a 3.6 mile toss today, the birds made it back in 24 minutes which isn’t anything crazy but they had a major head wind So I was just happy I didn’t lose any. I was planning On doing 10.5 the next toss, think that will be alright?

 

[biophiliac]

FWIW -

 

[biophiliac]

Did a 3.6 mile toss today, the birds made it back in 24 minutes which isn’t anything crazy but they had a major head wind So I was just happy I didn’t lose any. I was planning On doing 10.5 the next toss, think that will be alright?

Very nice! How many short tosses have you done? Are you doing releases from different directions? At the beginning you don't want to increase distance too fast. @backyard pigeons what do you think?

 

[biophiliac]

Sundae (that's what I've decided to call the feral) was alllll the way up in the nesting box tonight! She had to have flown up there.

I've been catching her on the beam on the door, which is about two feet off the ground, so I knew she was healing. Tonight she got all the way up to the nest box, which is about five feet off the ground.

Yay for Sundae! TThat reminds me how rewarding it was to see Doba regain flight.

 

[biophiliac]

Well I was finally running low enough on feed to make my own mix, birds ate it all no issues so I’m hoping it works out well as it was much cheaper to make and will work as a chicken scratch for me as well.

What kind of pellets are you using? I think it's great if your birds like them. No peas? I know peas are more expensive bought separately ... My birds didn't like the all flock pellets I tried to mix in. Maybe I will try again.

 

[Pigeon28]

Very nice! How many short tosses have you done? Are you doing releases from different directions? At the beginning you don't want to increase distance too fast. @backyard pigeons what do you think?

I have only done 2 tosses, the first was roughly 2.5 miles and the second was this 3.6. I thought the birds weren’t feeling great so I stopped tosses as I didn’t want to lose any because of my own negligence. I did go in opposite direction the second time.

What kind of pellets are you using? I think it's great if your birds like them. No peas? I know peas are more expensive bought separately ... My birds didn't like the all flock pellets I tried to mix in. Maybe I will try again.

I am just using a chicken pellet, the first few days they were the last thing they ate but after that they arnt very picky. I couldn't find peas at any of the feed shops within 1.5 hrs from me that I called so I said the heck with it, as well as finally finding soybeans and then being way over priced. I wanted to make a quality food but at an affordable price. I ended up with just over 200 lbs for less than $100 and I can use it for my chickens as well so it works for me

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

FWIW -

One of those pigeons looks like a seagull, what color is that?

 

[biophiliac]

I say this with a heavy heart, that we are back down to the original Kiwi and Peach. Lime was a victim to the Cooper's hawk hanging around, and Cherry met the same fate a few weeks later. Kiwi and Peach had squabs again, but Nugget was bullying his parents to the point of chasing them off the nest, where he killed one squab and the other one froze. So I separated Nugget. I set him up in a cage where I thought he'd be safe, but that night a cat got him, pulled him through the bars of that cage, and ate him. I woke up to feathers everywhere. I found his leg band chewed up in a pile of feathers. I'm not planning on loft flying the pigeons much anymore and I extended it a bit. RIP all of the pigeon children

Condolences on your losses.

One of those pigeons looks like a seagull, what color is that?

The saddle pattern, with color only on the wing shield gives it that seagull look.

 

[cavemanrich]

I would do more shorter tosses from all different directions. If possible. My thinking;;;;;;; if your pigeons do return from a longer toss, they may overshoot your coop. This way they may realize they are lost,,,,,,,, but looking around would know where /what direction home is. JMO